Monday, October 4, 2010

Rumor: BMW new front-wheel-drive family of cars to be sold in the United States

Author: Horatiu B

According to a report published by Automotive News, BMW’s new front-wheel-drive family of cars will be sold in the United States. Quoting sources within the company, AutoNews reports that BMW is convinced luxury buyers are ready embrace vehicles positioned below the 1 Series Coupe sold currently in the US.

Furthermore, the report says that the new class is being called UKL, an abbreviation for lower compact class cars sold in Germany. In our opinion, this is just an internal code and the production vehicles will be carrying a different label.

In an interview with the aforementioned publication, Ian Roberton, head of sales and marketing at BMW, said that the new class “will be a relatively big segment because we have several body styles”.

Without disclosing the bodystyles, Robertson confirmed that the US-bound vehicles will be powered by a four-cylinder engine. The new BMW family of small cars is expected to be launched before 2013.

Robertson expects significant volume from the small car lineup, with sales of 100,000 vehicles worldwide a year. Bringing the MINI brand and its FWD to focus, Robertson said for AutoNews that “No one has said to me the Mini isn’t great to drive”.

The following question remains: are the US customers ready for a front-wheel drive BMW?

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